Zygothuria lactea Cosmo 1165

Zygothuria lactea (Théel, 1886a) Reports for the Azores:

Holothuria lactea $ Théel, 1886a: 183–184, pl. 10, figs. 9, 15;

Mesothuria lactea Théel, 1886 a— $ Hérouard 1902: 21–23, pl. 1, figs. 17–19, 1923: 13–15, pl. 4, figs. 1–3; Mortensen 1927a: 382–383, figs. 226–227; Nobre 1938: 152–153; García-Diez et al. 2005: 51;

Zygothuria (Holothuria) lactea Théel, 1886 a—Perrier 1902: 322–327, pl. 17, figs. 1–10;

Mesothuria (Zygothuria) lactea (Théel, 1886) — Benavides-Serrato et al. 2012: 208–209;

Zygothuria lactea (Théel, 1886) — $ Gebruk 2012: 310–321, figs. 13, 14.

Type locality: off New Zealand, Pacific (37°34’S, 179°22’W).

See: Théel (1886a); Benavides-Serrato et al. (2012); Gebruk et al. (2012).

Occurrence: cosmopolitan, in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Southern Oceans; in the west Atlantic reported from New England to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, in the east reported from Iceland eastwards from the Rockall Trough south to NW Africa, including the Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape Verde (Perrier 1902, Hérouard 1923, Gebruk et al. 2012); reported elsewhere in the South Atlantic (25°27’S, 6°10’W; Gebruk et al. 2012).

Depth: 484– 5,100 m (Benavides-Serrato et al. 2012); AZO: 1,165 –2,102 m (Hérouard 1902).

Habitat: soft sediments, muddy sand, mud to clay (Hérouard 1902).

Larval stage: lecithotrophic (Gebruk et al. 2012).

Remarks: the true geographical distribution and depth range of Zygothuria lactea is unknown, particularly in the Western Atlantic, given that historically this species was confused with other closely related species [e.g., Z. oxysclera (Perrier, 1899), see Gebruk et al. 2012]. In the Azores, Z. lactea is extremely abundant between 1,200 and 2,000 m (Hérouard 1902).